The Windows Phone Thread

This is a discussion on The Windows Phone Thread within Gadgets, Computers & Software, part of the Shifting gears category; Originally Posted by alpha1
So I bought the BLU Win HD LTE phone for 6K from snapdeal, comes with screen ...

So I bought the BLU Win HD LTE phone for 6K from snapdeal, comes with screen guard and rubber "jacket". Pretty good deal for the specs offered.
However, the touch is not as sensitive as the Lumias :(
And there are no Lumia apps available (which doesn't matter much for me)

Also I did realize that Here maps and drive are not available and the reason is some "goof-up" by Here's latest update that made the app unstable, thus has been pulled out.

Please update on the performance. Did you move over to the new phone? How was the account transfer?

Please update on the performance. Did you move over to the new phone? How was the account transfer?

BTW, the phone is out of stock in Snapdeal.

The phone should also be available in Amazon, you may check there.
I actually wanted the Orange/Red- but looks like only the Grey version is available in India.
I moved from Lumia 520 to Blu Win completely without any hassle.
All sms were transferred, all apps got installed automatically, all accounts got configured. I only had to give permission to gmail. For some of the app I had to reactivate them (OTP thing).

In fact even the front screen layout/color scheme/background was restored!
What did not get restored were the Lumia apps and Here apps. I have already written about the Here apps in my previous post. And since this is not a Lumia phone, my ring tones, alarms which used Nokia specific files were also not restored.

Performance wise I can give you Antutu etc scores later, but overall the phone is much faster and snappier. Viber was a pain in Lumia 520, but works like a breeze on this (I believe this had something to do with the 512 MB RAM in Lumia 520).

I have two grouses though, to use the magnetic bearings (say on Maps), I have to do the figure-of-8 every time I open the app (to calibrate the compass). I have no idea whether the same thing happens in Lumia (the 520 didn't have compass).

The next grouse is the phone vibrator. It is very weak, and the correct name should be buzzer only making buzzing noise. The Lumia 640 vibrator is 10 times better which actually vibrates the entire phone. It makes a huge difference when you keep the phone in the pocket in a noisy environment.

I have already mentioned that the Lumia (with its super sensitive touch - meant for gloves) beats this phone in terms of touch performance.

But overall I spent 6K, got the screen guard as well as rubber jacket as freebies - it is a huge step above the Lumia 520 bought for 9-10K, and in comparison with Lumia 640 you can live with some of the issues since this costs about 2K less than the 640.

Also I did realize that Here maps and drive are not available and the reason is some "goof-up" by Here's latest update that made the app unstable, thus has been pulled out.

W00ps, this is the wrong reason as I discovered over the weekend.
Here apps are not available on BLU devices.
There is a plan in Windows 10 to make the default map application suitable for turn-by-turn navigation, but till then I have to ironically use Google map based navigation! What an idiotic irony by Windows.

Here apps are available for all devices on Android and iPhones, but only for selected few Windows devices.

Lets say even if later in Win10 I do get to use the Map application for driving purpose, will the app show petrol pumps, hospitals, atms and other useful pieces of information the way it was displayed on Here drive and usually required while on travel? Questionable.

Any tried & tested (or reliable) repair shops in Chennai for broken screens? My dad wants to give the phone a last try (Lumia 925). Phone works fine, the screen has cracks but the touchscreen and all works good. However MS/Nokia service center quoted a 12k bill for the work.

Remember seeing this being done for 5-6k by someone on this thread - can't find the post. Would appreciate if someone could suggest good shops in Chennai - can give it a try to get a quote.

This might have been answered already, but I couldn't get it clearly, hence asking.

I read that there is an app called gmap which is a different version of google map in android. Does it show live traffic like in android and does it have turn by turn navigation? After using android for more than 4 years, I almost finalized on a Lumia 930 and suddenly to my shock, I read in some forum that it doesn't have a "proper full version" google map like in android.

This might have been answered already, but I couldn't get it clearly, hence asking.

I read that there is an app called gmap which is a different version of google map in android. Does it show live traffic like in android and does it have turn by turn navigation? After using android for more than 4 years, I almost finalized on a Lumia 930 and suddenly to my shock, I read in some forum that it doesn't have a "proper full version" google map like in android.

Someone please confirm.

Why are you so keen on google maps? For navigation i would recom Here Maps instead. And they work like a charm on lumia devices.

Why are you so keen on google maps? For navigation i would recom Here Maps instead. And they work like a charm on lumia devices.

Give that a go.

Oh so it means the gmap in Windows phone is a stripped down version of the google map in androids?

I have used Garmin, mapmyindia and Google maps extensively, and understood google map is better by miles amongst these three. The way google map updates one ways (in cities like Bangalore) within a week's time or the ease of searching, the accuracy of searching and destination, live traffic, even the least significant of a shack can be located in google map, but not possible in garmin/mapmyindia as the search itself will not show any results.

Google maps have become part of my life. Shopping and roaming inside city has become so smooth and tension-free because of google maps.

Its sad that lumia is not getting google maps. Infact that is the only one app I need and I can live without any other app. So the option is to have lumia and the existing android phone to be used for google maps and other android apps (if needed) while travelling.

This might have been answered already, but I couldn't get it clearly, hence asking.

I read that there is an app called gmap which is a different version of google map in android. Does it show live traffic like in android and does it have turn by turn navigation? After using android for more than 4 years, I almost finalized on a Lumia 930 and suddenly to my shock, I read in some forum that it doesn't have a "proper full version" google map like in android.

Someone please confirm.

I use an app called GMaps+
It overlays the Native downloaded maps with info from Google maps.
And yes, it shows traffic too.
There is no turn by turn navigation in it, since it is not official app by Google.
But for turn by turn purpose, you can use the Here drive.

So here is what I do:
1. Fire up the GMaps+,
2. search for location, view traffic
3. From the app select Here drive+ to navigate.

By the way, I read that Bing/Microsoft has also started live traffic in select cities in India (Mumbai and NCR definitely - since I have used there). Not sure if Here maps also shows the live traffic.

(There is a difference between Microsoft map and Here map).

###
BTW, the places database on Bing/MS and Here is not that bad.
I use GMaps+ extremely rarely. And in those cases, even Google doesn't have the correct coordinates.

I use an app called GMaps+
It overlays the Native downloaded maps with info from Google maps.
And yes, it shows traffic too.
There is no turn by turn navigation in it, since it is not official app by Google.
But for turn by turn purpose, you can use the Here drive.

So here is what I do:
1. Fire up the GMaps+,
2. search for location, view traffic
3. From the app select Here drive+ to navigate.

By the way, I read that Bing/Microsoft has also started live traffic in select cities in India (Mumbai and NCR definitely - since I have used there). Not sure if Here maps also shows the live traffic.

(There is a difference between Microsoft map and Here map).

###
BTW, the places database on Bing/MS and Here is not that bad.
I use GMaps+ extremely rarely. And in those cases, even Google doesn't have the correct coordinates.

Thanks for the information. The issue is that none of my colleagues/friends/family is using windows phone and hence I am not able to check it once. May be I will try checking it in a store.

Anyways I am inclined to Windows because 4 years of Android has made it too boring.

By the way Here maps is available on Android too, why don't you download and check it out there?

Please keep in mind, that the outline view of the roads and the map is not too charming (not at all compared to Google maps) since they have to keep the map size less for downloading for offline use (e.g the entire country of India takes up about 1GB, whereas in Google maps, one city itself will take up 1 GB).

So the apparent details may appear to be missing/lacking. However, try "searching" for places. You may not miss much compared to Google maps.

I hope you are aware that there are certain file format issues on Win phone and lots of nondescript apps are not available on Win.

By the way Here maps is available on Android too, why don't you download and check it out there?

Thank you for the idea. I just downloaded and installed HERE maps and first thing I tried was to find out my apartment, (which I was not able to get with Garmin and mapmyindia, but was very much available in google maps), and to my sadness, NO :( . Here maps is not able to search out my apartment in Bangalore.

Randomly searched few more not-so-significant places and some places were recognized and some others not recognized by HERE (all those places were recognized by google maps). Google maps come really handy when we search for specialized boutiques and interesting but not so famous places. Didn't further search much. Anyways no point in that, as I told, I can keep my android phone for maps and then buy a lumia. Or I will wait for a few more days for some other phone.

So here is what I do:
1. Fire up the GMaps+,
2. search for location, view traffic
3. From the app select Here drive+ to navigate.
.

I had a lumia a couple of months ago and I used to do this exact sequence and it used to work very well.
Now I have an android and I can say that Google maps works flawlessly for navigation. Additionally the traffic info is way more accurate on Google than on here. The gmaps+ shows Google traffic data but navigation using would not consider Google traffic data for rerouting

So my summary is that there are tools in Windows to make things work but it just is not the same experience of an android and native Google maps.